The soldier and death : a Russian folk tale

6035

1920

Ransome
Soldier and Death

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

THE
SOLDIER AND DEATH

A RUSSIAN FOLK TALE
TOLD IN ENGLISH BY

ARTHUR RANSOME

THE
SOLDIER AND DEATH

A RUSSIAN FOLK TALE
TOLD IN ENGLISH BY
ARTHUR RANSOME

January 1920

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

A SOLDIER served God and the Great
Tzar for twenty-five years, earned three
dry biscuits, and set off to walk his way
home. He kissed his companions with whom
he had served so long, and boasted of the
feasting there would be in the village when
he should come marching home with all his
wars behind him. Singing at the top of his
voice he was as he set off. But as soon as he was
alone on the high road, walking through the
forest he began to think things over. And he
thought to himself : All these years I have
served the Tzar and had good clothes to my
back and my belly full of victuals. And now I
am like to be both hungry and cold. Already
I've nothing but three dry biscuits.

Just then he met an old beggar, who stood
in the road and crossed himself and asked alms
for the love of God.

The soldier had not a copper piece in the
world, so he gave the beggar one of his three
dry biscuits.

He had not gone very far along the road
when he met a second beggar, who leant on a
stick and recited holy words and begged alms
for the love or God .

The soldier gave him the second of his three
dry biscuits.

And then, at a bend in the road, he met a
third old beggar, with long white hair and
beard and loathsome rags, who stood shaking

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

by the roadside, and he begged alms for the
love of God.

" If I give him my last dry biscuit I shall
have nothing left for myself," thought the
soldier. He gave the old beggar half of the
third dry biscuit. Then the thought came into
his head that perhaps this old beggar would
meet the other two, and would learn that they
had been given whole biscuits while he had
only been given a half. " He will be hurt and
affronted," thought the soldier, " and his bless-
ing will be of no avail." So he gave the old
beggar the other half also of the third of his
three dry biscuits. " I shall get along some-
how," thought the soldier, and was for making
forward on his way. But the old beggar put out
his hand and stopped him.

" Brother," says the old beggar, " are you
in want of anything ? "

" God bless you," says the soldier, looking
at the beggar's rags, " I want nothing from
you. You're a poor man yourself."

" Never mind my poverty," says the old
beggar. " Just tell me what you would like to
have, and I am well able to reward you for your
kind heart."

" I don't want anything," said the soldier ;
" but, if you do happen to have such a thing as
a pack of cards about you, I'd keep them in
memory of you, and they'd be a pleasure to
me on the long road."

The old beggar thrust his hand into his
bosom among his rags, and pulled out a pack
of cards.

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

" Take these," says he, " and when you
play with them you'll always be winner who-
ever may be playing against you. And here's a
flour sack for you as well. If you meet anything
and want to catch it, just open the sack and tell
beasts or birds or aught else to get into it, and
they'll do just that, and you can close the sack
and do with them what you will."

" Thank you kindly, "says the soldier, throws
the sack over his shoulder, puts the pack of
cards in his pocket, and trudges off along the
high road singing an old song.

He went on and on till he came to a lake,
where he drank a little water to ease his thirst,
and smoked a pipe to put off his hunger, rest-
ing by the shore of the lake. And there on the
lake he saw three wild geese swimming far
away. " Now if I could catch them ! " thought
the soldier, and remembered the sack the old
beggar had given him. He opened the sack and
shouted at the top of his voice : " Hi !
You there, you wild geese, come into my
sack !"

And the three wild geese splashed up out of
the water, and flew to the bank and crowded
into the sack one after the other.

The soldier tied up the mouth of the sack,
flung it over his shoulder and went on his way.

He came to a town, and looked for a tavern,
and chose the best he could see, and went in
there and asked for the landlord.

" See here," says he, " here are three wild
geese. I want one of them roasted for my din-
ner. Another I'll give you in exchange for a

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

bottle of vodka. The third you shall have to
pay you for your trouble."

The landlord agreed, as well he might, and
presently the soldier was seated at a good table
near a window, with a whole bottle of the best
vokda, and a fine roast goose fresh from the
kitchen.

When he had made an end of the goose, the
soldier laid down his knife and fork, tipped the
last drops of the vodka down his throat, and
set the bottle upside down upon the table.
Then he lit his little pipe, sat back on the bench
and took a look out of the window to see what
was doing in the town.

And there on the other side of the road was
a fine palace , well carved and painted. A year's
work had gone to the carving of every doorpost
and window-frame. But in all the palace there
was not one whole pane of glass.

" Landlord," says the soldier, " tell me
what's the meaning of this ? Why is a fine
palace like that standing empty with broken
windows ? "

" It's a good enough palace," says the land-
lord. " The Tzar built the palace for him-
self, but there's no living in it because of the
devils."

" Devils ? " says the soldier.

" Devils," says the landlord. " Every night
they crowd into the palace, and, what with
their shouting and yelling and screaming and
playing cards, and all the other devilries that
come into their heads, there's no living in the
palace for decent folk."

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

" And does nobody clear them out ? " asks
the soldier.

" Easier said than done," says the landlord.

Well, with that the soldier wishes good
health to the landlord, and sets off to see the
Tzar. He comes walking into the Tzar's house
and gives him a salute.

" Your Majesty," says he, " will you give
me leave to spend one night in your empty
palace ? "

" God bless you," says the Tzar, " but you
don't know what you are asking. Foolhardy
folk enough have tried to spend a night in that
palace. They went in merry and boasting, but
not one of them came walking out alive in the
morning."

" What of that ? " says the soldier. " Water
won't drown a Russian soldier, and fire won't
burn him. I have served God and the Tzar for
twenty- five years and am not dead. A single
night in that palace won't be end of me."

" But I tell you : a man walks in there alive
in the evening, and in the morning the servants
have to search the floor for the little bits of his
bones."

" None the less," says the soldier, " if your
majesty will give me leave. ..."

" Get along with you and God be with you,"
says the Tzar. " Spend the night there if you've
set your heart on it."

So the soldier came to the palace and stepped
in, singing through the empty rooms. He made
himself comfortable in the biggest room of all,,
laid his knapsack in a corner and hung his.

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

sword on a nail, sat down at the table, took
out his bag of tobacco, filled his little pipe,
and sat there smoking, ready for what might
come.

Twelve o'clock sharp and there was a yell-
ing, a shouting, a blowing of horns, a scraping
of fiddles and every other kind of instrument,
a noise of dancing, of running, of stamping,
and the palace cram full of devils making them-
selves at home as if the place belonged to
them.

" And you, soldier ? " cried the devils.
" What are you sitting there so glum for,
smoking your pipe ? There's smoke enough
where we have been. Put your pipe in your
pocket and play a round of cards with us."

" Right you are," says the soldier, " if you'll
play with my cards."

" Deal them out," shouted the devils, and
the soldier put his pipe in his pocket and dealt
out the cards, while the devils crowded round
the table fighting for room on the benches.

They played a game and the soldier won.
They played another and he won again. The
devils were cunning enough, God knows, but
not all their cunning could win a single game
for them. The soldier was raking in the money
all the time. Soon enough the devils had not a
penny piece between them, and the soldier
was for putting up his cards and lighting his
pipe. Content he was, and well he might be,
with his pockets bulging with money.

" Stop a minute, soldier," said the devils,
* we've still got sixty bushels of silver and forty

8

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

of gold. We'll play for them if you'll give us
time to send for them."

" Lets see the silver," says the soldier, and
puts the cards in his pocket.

Well, they sent a little devil to fetch the silver.
Sixty times he ran out of the room and sixty
times he came staggering back with a bushel of
silver on his shoulders.

The soldier pulled out his cards, and they
played on, but it was all the same. The devils
cheated in every kind of way, but could not
win a game.

" Go and fetch the gold," says the oldest
devil.

" Aye, aye, grandfather," says the little
devil, and goes scuttling out of the room. Forty
times he ran out, and forty times he came
staggering back with a bushel of gold between
his shoulders.

They played on. The soldier won every
game and all the gold, asked if they had any
more money to lose, put his cards in his pocket
and lit his pipe.

The devils looked at all the money they had
lost. It seemed a pity to lose all that good silver
and gold.

" Tear him to pieces, brothers," they cried,
" tear him to pieces, eat him and have done !"

The soldier tapped his little pipe on the table.

" First make sure," says he, " who eats
whom." And with that he whips out his sack,
and, says he, to the devils, who were all gnash-
ing their teeth and making ready to fall on him,
" what do you call this ? "

9

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

" It's a sack," said the devils.

"Is it ? " says the soldier. " Then, by the
word of God, get into it ! "

And the next minute all those devils were
tumbling over each other and getting into the
sack, squeezing in one on the top of another
until the last one had got inside. Then the
soldier tied up the sack with a good double
knot, hung it on a nail, and lay down to sleep.

In the morning the Tzar sent his servants.

" Go," says the Tzar, " and see what has
happened to the soldier who spent the night
in the empty palace. If the unclean spirits have
made an end of him, then you must sweep up
his bones and make all clean."

The servants came, all ready to lament for
the brave soldier done to death by the unclean,
and there was the soldier walking cheerfully
from one room to another, smoking his little
pipe.

" Well done, soldier ! We never thought to
see you alive. And how did you spend the
night ? How did you manage against the
devils ? "

" Devils ? " says the soldier. " I wish all
men I have played cards against had paid their
debts so honestly. Have a look at the silver and
gold I won from them. Look at the heaps of
money lying on the floor."

The servants looked at the silver and gold
and touched it to see if it was real. But there
was no doubt about that. I wish I had more in
my pocket of the same sort.

" Now, brothers," said the soldier, " off

10

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

with you as quick as you can, go and fetch two
blacksmiths here on the run. And let them
bring with them an iron anvil and the two
heaviest hammers in the forge."

The servants asked no questions, but hurried
to the smithy, and the two blacksmiths came
running, with anvil and hammers. Giants they
were, the strongest men in all the town.

" Now," says the soldier, " take that sack
from the nail and lay it on the anvil and let
me see how the blacksmiths of this town can
set about their work.

The blacksmiths took the sack from the nail.

" Devil take it, what a weight," they said to
each other.

And little voices screamed out of the sack :
" We are good folk. We are your own people."

" Are you ? " said the blacksmiths ; and
they laid the sack on the anvil and swung the
great hammers, up and down, up and down,
as if they were beating out a lump of iron.

The devils fared badly in there, and worse
and worse. The hammers came down as if they
were going through devils, anvil, earth, and
all. It was more than even devils could bear.

" Have mercy ! " they screamed. " Have
mercy, soldier ! Let us out again into the world,
and we'll never forget you world without end.
And as for this palace. . . . No devil shall
put the nail of the toe of his foot in it. We'll
tell them all. Not one shall come within a hun-
dred miles."

The soldier let the blacksmiths give a few
more blows, just for luck. Then he stopped

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THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

them, and untied the mouth of the sack. The
moment he opened it, the devils shot out, and
fled away to hell without looking right or left
in their hurry.

But the soldier was no fool, and he grabbed
one old devil by the leg. And the devil hung
gibbering, trying to get away. The soldier cut
the devil's hairy wrist to the bone, so that the
blood flowed, took a pen, dipped it in the
blood, and gave it to the devil. But he never
let go of his leg.

" Write," says he, " that you will be my
faithful servant."

The old devil screamed and wriggled, but
the soldier gripped him tight. There was noth-
ing to be done. He wrote and signed in his own
blood a promise to serve the soldier faithfully
wherever and whenever there should be need.
Then the soldier let him go, and he went hop-
ping and screaming after the others, and had
disappeared in a moment.

And so the devils went rushing down to
hell, aching in every bone of their hairy bodies.
And they called all the other unclean spirits,
old and young, big and little, and told what
had happened to them. And they set sentinels
all round hell, and guards at every gate, and
ordered them to watch well, and, whatever
they did, not on any account to let in the
soldier with the flour sack.

The soldier went to the Tzar and told him
how he had dealt with the devils, and how
henceforth no devil would set foot within a
hundred miles of the palace.

12

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

" If that's so," says the Tzar, " we'll move
at once, and go and live there, and you shall
live with me and be honoured as my own
brother." And with that there was a great to do
shifting the bedding and tables and benches
and all else from the old palace to the new,
and the soldier set up house with the Tzar,
living with him as his own brother, and wear-
ing fine clothes with gold embroidery, and
eating the same food as the Tzar, and as much
of it as he liked. Money to spend he had, for
he had won from the devils enough to last
even a spending man a thousand years. And
he had nothing to spend it on. Hens don't eat
gold. No more do mice. And there the money
lay in a corner till the soldier was tired of look-
ing at it.

So the soldier thought he would marry. And
he took a wife, and in a year's time God gave
him a son, and he had nothing more to wish
for except to see the son grow up and turn into
a general.

But it so happened that the little boy fell ill,
and what was the matter with him no one knew.
He grew worse and worse from day to day,
and the Tzar sent for every doctor in the coun-
try, but not one of them did him a half- penny-
worth of good. The doctors grew richer and
the boy grew no better but worse, as is often
the way.

The soldier had almost given up hope of
saving his son when he remembered the old
devil who had signed a promise written in his
own blood to serve the soldier faithfully wher-

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

ever and whenever there should be need. He
remembered this, and said to himself: " Where
the devil has my old devil hidden himself all
this time ? "

And he had scarcely said this when sud-
denly there was the little old devil standing in
front of him, dressed like a peasant in a little
shirt and breeches, trembling with fright and
asking : " How can I serve your Excellency ?"

" See here," says the soldier. " My son is
ill. Do you happen to know how to cure him?"

The little old devil took a glass from his
pocket and filled it with cold water and set it
on the sick child's forehead.

" Come here, your Excellency," says he,
" and look into the glass of water."

The soldier came and looked in the glass.

" And what does your Excellency see ? "
asked the little old devil, who was so much
afraid of the soldier that he trembled and
could hardly speak.

" I see Death, like a little old woman, stand-
ing at my son's feet."

" Be easy," says the little old devil, " for if
Death is standing at your son's feet he will be
well again. But if Death were standing at his
head then nothing could save him."

And with that the little old devil lifted the
glass and splashed the cold water over the sick
child, and the next minute there was the little
boy crawling about and laughing and crowing
as if he had never been sick in his life.

" Give me that glass," says the soldier,
" and we'll cry quits."

H

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

The little old devil gave him the glass. And
the soldier gave back the promise which the
devil had signed in his own blood. As soon as
the little old devil had that promise in his hand
he gave one look at the soldier and fled away
as if the blacksmiths had only that minute
stopped beating him on the anvil.

And the soldier after that set up as a wise
man and put all the doctors out of business,
curing the boyars and generals. He would just
look in his glass, and if Death stood at a sick
man's feet, he threw the water over him and
cured him. If Death stood at the sick man's
head, he said : " It's all up with you," and the
sick man died as sure as fate.

All went well until the Tzar himself fell ill
and sent for the soldier to cure him.

The soldier went in, and the Tzar greeted
him as his own brother, and prayed him to be
quick, as he felt the sickness growing upon
him as he lay. The soldier poured cold water
in the glass, and set it on the Tzar's forehead,
and looked and looked again, and saw Death
standing at the Tzar's head.

" O Tzar," says the soldier, " it's all up with
you. Death is waiting by your head, and you
have but a few minutes left to live."

" What ? " cries the Tzar, " you cure my
boyars and generals and you will not cure me
who am Tzar, and have treated you as my own
born brother. If I've only a few minutes to live
I've time enough to give orders for you to be
beheaded."

The soldier thought and thought, and he

15

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

begged Death : " O Death," says he, " give
my life to the Tzar and kill me instead. Better
to die so than to end by being shamefully be-
headed ! "

He looked once more in the glass, and saw
that the little old woman Death had shifted
from the Tzar's head and was now standing at
his feet. He picked up the glass and splashed
the water over the Tzar, and there was the
Tzar as well and healthy as ever he had been.

" You are my own true brother after all,"
says the Tzar. " Let us go and feast to-
gether."

But the soldier shook in all his limbs and
could hardly stand, and he knew that his time
was come. He prayed Death : " O Death, give
me just one hour to say good-bye to my wife
and my little son."

" Hurry up ! " says Death.

And the soldier hurried to his room in the
palace, said good-bye to his wife, told his son
to grow up and be a general, lay down on his
bed and grew iller every minute.

He looked, and there was Death, a little old
woman, standing by his bedside.

" Well, soldier," says Death, " you have
only two minutes left to live ! "

The soldier groaned, and, turning in bed,
pulled the flour sack from under his pillow
and opened it.

"Do you know what this is ? " says he to Death .

" A sack," says Death.

" Well, if it is a sack, get into it ! " says the
soldier.

16

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

Death was into the sack in a moment, and
the soldier leapt from his bed well and strong,
tied up the sack with two double knots, flung
it over his shoulder and set out for the deep
forest of Brian, which is the thickest in all the
world . He came to the forest and made his way
into the middle of it, hung the sack from the
topmost branches of a high poplar tree, left it
there and came home singing songs at the top
of his voice and full of all kinds of merriment.

From that time on there was no dying in the
world . There were births every day, and plenty
of them, but nobody died. It was a poor time
for doctors. And so it was for many years.
Death had come to an end, and it was as if all
men would live for ever. And all the time the
little old woman, Death, tied up in a sack,
unable to get about her business, was hanging
from the top of a tall poplar tree away in Brian
forest.

And then, one day, the soldier was walking
out to take the air, and he met an ancient old
crone, so old and so ancient that she was like
to fall whichever way the wind blew. She tot-
tered along, blown this way and that, like a
blade of withered grass.

" What an old hag," said the soldier to him-
self. " It was time for her to die a many years
ago."

;< Yes," says the old crone, with her tooth-
less gums numbling and grumbling over her
words. " Long ago it was time for me to die.
When you shut up Death in the sack I had
only an hour left to live. I had done with the

17

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

world, and the world had done with me, and
I would have been glad to be at peace. Long
ago my place in heaven was made ready, and it
is empty to this day for I cannot die. You,
soldier, have sinned before God and before
man. You have sinned a sin that God will not
forgive. I am not the only soul in the world who
is tortured as I am. Mine is not the only place
that is growing dusty in heaven. Hundreds and
thousands of us who should have died drag on
in misery about the world. And but for you we
should now be resting in peace."

The soldier began to think. And he thought
of all the other old men and women he had
kept from the rest that God had made ready
for them. " There is no doubt about it," thinks
he ; "I had better let Death loose again. No
matter if I am the first of whom she makes an
end. I have sinned many sins, not counting
this one. Better go to the other world now and
bear my punishment while I am -strong, for
when I am very old it will come worse to me to
be tortured."

So he set off to the forest of Brian, which is
the thickest in all the world. He found the
poplar tree, and saw the sack hanging from the
topmost branches, swinging this way and that
as wind blew.

" Well, Death, are you alive up there ? "
the soldier shouted against the wind.

And a little voice, hardly to be heard, an-
swered from the sack : " Alive, little father ! "

So the soldier climbed up the tree, took
down the sack, and carried it home over his

18

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

shoulder. He said good-bye to his wife and his
son, who was now a fine young lad. Then he
went into his own room, opened the bag, lay
down upon the bed, and begged Death to make
an end of him.

And Death, in the form of a little old woman,
crept trembling out of the sack, looking this
way and that, for she was very much afraid.
As soon as she saw the soldier she bolted
through the door, and ran away as fast as her
little old legs could carry her. " The devils
can make an end of you if they like/' she
shrieked, " but you don't catch me taking a
hand in it."

The soldier sat up on the bed and knew that
he was alive and well. Troubled he was as to
what to do next. Thinks he : "I'd better get
straight along to hell, and let the devils throw
me into the boiling pitch, and stew me until
all my sins are stewed out of me."

So he said good-bye to everybody, took his
sack in his hands and set off to hell by the best
road he could find.

Well, he walked on and on, over hill and
valley and through the deep forest, until he
came at last to the kingdom of the unclean.
There were the walls of hell and the gates of
hell, and as he looked he saw that sentinels
were standing at every gate.

As soon as he came near a gate the devil
doing sentry go calls out :

" Who goes there ? "

" A sinful soul come to you to be stewed in
the boiling pitch."

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THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

" And what is that you've got in your hand ?"

" A sack."

And the devil yelled out at the top of his
voice and gave the alarm. From all sides the
unclean rushed up and began closing every
gate and window in hell with strong bolts and
bars.

And the soldier walked round hell outside
the walls, unable to get in.

He cried out to the Prince of Hell :

" Let me into hell, I beg you. I have come
to you to be tormented, because I have sinned
before God and before man."

" No," shouted the Prince of Hell, " I won't
let you in. Go away. Go away, I tell you. Go
away, anywhere you like. There's no place for
you here."

The soldier was more troubled than ever.

" Well," says he, " if you won't let me in,
you won't. I'll go away if you will give me two
hundred sinful souls. I will take them to God,
and perhaps, when he sees them, he will for-
give me and let me into heaven."

" I'll throw in another fifty," says the
Prince of Hell, " if only you'll get away from
here."

And he told the lesser devils to count out
two hundred and fifty sinful souls and to let
them out quickly at one of the back doors of
hell, while he held the soldier in talk, so that
the soldier should not slip in while the sinful
souls were going out.

It was done, and the soldier set off for heaven
with two hundred and fifty sinful souls behind

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THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

him, marching in column of route, as the
soldier made them for the sake of order and
decency.

Well, they marched on and on, and in the
end they came to heaven, and stopped before
the very gates of Paradise.

And the holy apostles, standing in the gate-
way of Paradise, said : " Who are you ? "

" I am the soldier who hung Death in a sack,
and I have brought two hundred and fifty
sinful souls from hell in hope that God will
pardon my sins and let me into Paradise."

And the apostles went to the Lord, and
told him that the soldier had come, and
brought with him two hundred and fifty sinful
souls.

And God said : " Let in the sinful souls,
but do not let in the soldier."

The apostles went back to the gateway, and
opened the gates and told the souls they might
come in. But when the soldier tried to march
in at the head of his company they stopped
him, and said : " No, soldier ! There's no
place for you here."

So the soldier took one of the sinful souls
aside and gave that soul his sack, and told him :
" As soon as you are through the gates of
Paradise, open the sack and shout out " Into
the sack, soldier ! " You will do this because I
brought you here from hell."

And the sinful soul promised to do this for
the soldier.

But when that sinful soul went through the
gates into Paradise, for very joy it forgot about

THE SOLDIER AND DEATH

the soldier, and threw away the sack some-
where in Paradise, where it may be lying to
this day.

And so the soldier, after waiting a long time,
went slowly back to earth. Death would not
take him. There was no place for him in Para-
dise and no place for him in Hell. For all I
know he may be living yet.

Printed for : the Author at The

Westminster Press, London

W. and published by

John G. Wilson at

7 7 Queen Street

Cheapside

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